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In the last project in our DIY weddings series, Spoonflower crew member Allie shares an easy tutorial for creating a custom bean bag toss game set for a fun, personalized touch to your wedding day!

For my oldest sister’s wedding last weekend, I knew using Spoonflower to personalize the day would come in handy. When she mentioned wanting a bean bag toss game for guests to play at her wedding on our family farm here in North Carolina, we decided to design custom decals to decorate the boards and matching fabric for the bean bags. It was a super simple project that everyone at the wedding enjoyed! I used a custom stamp with the bride's and groom's initials and the wedding date she created to decorate the invitations as my design element for the decals and designed a floral fabric in similar colors for the bean bags.

I began my project by scanning the stamped image created to adorn their custom invitation. I then used Adobe Illustrator to clean up the image a bit, sized to 20" at 150 dpi, and made the color even throughout the design. To help distinguish teams, I created a blue version, which fueled competion between the bride's team and groom's team.

Once I had cleaned up and sized my design, I uploaded the file to my Spoonflower account. Since I had a bit of extra space on the 30” x 30” decal, I filled that area with smaller versions of the logo, just in case we could just them elsewhere in the wedding.

Applying the decals was super easy – cut out the shape, peel, stick! Sometimes it’s helpful to have a friend when working with large decals, as they tend to stick to themselves. Since they are repostionable, it's is easy to move them around if you don't get them in the exact spot you'd like the first time.

I used the same blue and pink to create a floral design that I had printed on linen-cotton canvas to use for bean bags. Bean bag construction was super easy — just sew little squares, fill with beans, and close!

Our bean bag toss was perfect for my sister's wedding day festivities, complete with boards colored for both a groom's team and a bride's team, but you can create your own game set for family reunions, birthday parties, or other summertime celebrations!

About Our Guest Author

When Allie is not working as a part of Spoonflower’s marketing team, she can be found crafting, studying for her Masters in Textiles, or snuggling her dog Grace.

Up next in our DIY weddings series, Spoonflower crew member Caitlin shares two simple tutorials using decals to add a special touch to your wedding day.

There are lots of ways to add a personal touch to your wedding. For my own wedding almost four years ago, I made many of the day's decorative elements, including fabric bunting which I turned into a quilt, and boutonnières made from ribbon and buttons. With Spoonflower decals, there are lots of fun and simple projects that you can create — using a custom design of your own or one from the Marketplace — to add a personal touch to your important day. Below are two simple tutorials to make table numbers (something I didn't DIY for my own wedding, but wish I had!) and cupcake toppers with decals.

For the table numbers:

1. Choose a font and print out the necessary numbers for your tables. For my numbers, I used a font I downloaded from dafont.com, and sized the numbers to about 5 ½” tall, to fit comfortably onto the chalkboards.

2. Cut out each number and trace it onto the decal’s paper backing. Since you’ll be using numbers, be sure to reverse them when tracing so that when they’re cut out, they’re facing in the right direction.

3. Cut out each of the numbers and apply to your chalkboards. One of the great things about Spoonflower’s decal is that it’s repositionable, so you can move your numbers around and re-stick them until you have them in the spot you want.

For the cupcake toppers:

1. Cut your decal into ½” strips. Cut each strip into a 3 ½” piece.

2. Wrap each strip around one end of a toothpick.

3. Trim the end of the decal. You could trim it at an angle or to a point, or cut a triangle out from the end.

4. Stick into your cupcakes (or slices of pie or donuts!).

Will you be using (or have you used) decals for any of your wedding projects? If so, please share your ideas in the comments below—I’d love to hear about them!

About Our Guest Blogger

When she’s not working behind the
scenes at Spoonflower, sourcing fabric, Caitlin can be found
quilting in her home studio or blogging over at Salty
Oat.

Spring is in the air in North Carolina, and with warmer weather and blooming flowers comes the start of wedding season. To inspire blushing brides to be and other wedding enthusiasts we are switching our focus to fun DIY wedding projects! For the first entry in our month-long series, Spoonflower crew member Stephanie shares how she used baby succulents (and Spoonflower fabric) to serve double duty as both centerpieces and favors!

I tried to keep the DIY for my wedding manageable. Since I planned it in two months, I didn’t want to take on too many projects at once and have the wedding day come and have only a bunch of sad, partially completed projects to show for all my work. One of the reasons I like this project so much is that it served double duty! Table decorations by day, wedding favors by night.

Supplies:

3 different sizes of mason jars (8 oz, 16 oz, 32 oz)

succulent clippings

succulent/cactus soil

craft moss

paper funnel

chopsticks

succulent care sheets

The number of mason jars you need depends on how many tables you have, the size of the tables and how much space you want the decoration to take up. I had four 8-foot round tables and placed two 32 oz jars, three 16 oz jars and three 8 oz jars on each table. I bought my mason jars in bulk from Uline, but you could also find them in a grocery store if it is around canning season.

When I first started looking for succulents, I was afraid this project’s budget was going to go a little over! Fully grown succulents are a little expensive to fill so many jars, especially when some jars might need a few succulents, not just one. However, with a little luck and research, I came across the idea of using succulent clippings which are perfect for this project! I purchased my succulent clippings from the Etsy shop, Sanpedrocactus.

Once you have all your supplies, it’s time to start planting succulents! I found it easiest to create a paper funnel to fill all the mason jars with dirt. Another great tool to use is chopsticks. It’s practically impossible to arrange the succulents and moss how you want with your hand, so having some chopsticks available is a great help.

After planting the succulents, the jars look a little bare, but don’t fret! Once you add the moss, you expect a little gnome to walk out from under a leaf and the look is complete!

The one thing I was worried about was that I was giving away all these baby succulents and people wouldn’t know how to take care of them. Just one time of watering a succulent too much could kill it! Using some information that came with the succulent clippings I created a little fabric handout that people could take with them. Here is my design on Spoonflower, and a photo of the printed fabric:
I found some old, public domain illustrations of succulents online, created a grey border and chose some fancy fonts in Photoshop and I was done! I printed the instructions on Heavy Cotton Twill and pinked the edges so they wouldn’t fray. The final product comes out to a nice pile of helpful succulent tips that are around 4 in x 5 in. Even though the succulents were spread out on the tables, I kept the instructions on the guest book table with a sign telling everyone to take their favorite home with them.

Another idea is to print the instructions on a decal. I thought of this when I saw that my mother-in-law kept her succulent by a window in the kitchen with the succulent care sheet next to it. I thought it would be fun if she could have stuck the care sheet to the window above the succulent so she wouldn’t ever misplace it!

One of the best things about this project is after the wedding, you get to visit your friends and family and see the succulent they took home. It’s so great to see which one they picked and how much it’s grown.

About Our Guest Blogger

Stephanie Anton is an engineer at Spoonflower who enjoys spending her free time eating and cooking good food, spending time with her bunny and new husband and crafting up a storm.

This week we continue our “Market Yourself” series of posts on getting the word out about your creative enterprise with tips and practical project ideas from creative business folk.

Today, former Spoonflower staffer Caitlin Topham of the modern quilting blog Salty Oat shares a tutorial for making simple labels for quilts or other handmade goods.

As a quilter, I find that a quilt isn’t truly finished until the label is added. Not only is it a great way to remember when and where you were when you made a quilt (especially when you move as much as I have the past few years!), it can act as a calling card for your blog or business.

When you sell or donate your quilts, your label is a great way for you to brand your work in a polished way, as well as help people find and connect with you online and off.
Below is a tutorial for a simple quilt label using a logo and text. While the directions are specific to Photoshop CS5.1 on a Mac, they can easily be adapted to other Photoshop versions, on either Macs or PCs.

To start, open Photoshop and click on File >> New. Enter a file name and dimensions for your label. My preferred size for quilt labels is 4 inches wide by 3 inches tall, but feel free to do whatever size works best for you and your projects. Enter 150 pixels/inch for your resolution and click OK.

We’re so excited to share a tutorial from Rae Friis at Armommy on how to make fabric-covered buttons from a fat quarter of pretty patterned circles, and then use them in assorted cute projects. Enjoy the DIY ideas that Rae shared with us below, and then head on over to her blog to view one more button project!

Rae: Today’s post is all about buttons! If you haven’t made these fabric-covered cuties before, you are in for a
real treat. Why do I love them so much? They’re super-easy to make, require few supplies and once you’ve finished making some, there are endless ways to use them. I’ll get into some project ideas in a bit, but first a button-covering tutorial…. [Read more…] about Fabric-covered button projects

This week’s Fat Quarter February project comes from Diane Gilleland of CraftyPod, who shows us how to make pretty pieced kaleidoscope pillows from just two quarter-yard pieces of fabric.

Diane: I’ve been a little obsessed with the idea of kaleidoscopes lately. It’s so intriguing how you can take a wedge shape, multiply it by six, and create endless new patterns. So I thought it might be fun to replicate this idea in fabrics. I might be cheating on this month’s fat quarter theme just a little by using two fat quarters, but I really love the result, and using these large scale prints give it a very graphic look. I’m using four Holli Zollinger fabrics here: Chevrons Red and Chevrons Burlap from her Kunda Linen fabric collection in one pillow, and Mint Arrow and Arrow Marine from her Native Spirit Linen collection.

1.
Begin by downloading and printing the PDF pattern. I recommend
tracing it onto tissue paper, which will make it much easier to place
the pattern precisely on your fabric before cutting. Iron all
wrinkles out of both fabrics.

2.
Now, align the tissue pattern where you want it on your fabric.
You’ll want to choose a section that will form a nice pattern when
it’s repeated six times. It’s also wise to take a moment and make
sure you can get three identical pieces from your fabric. Here, I’ve taped the pattern to the fabric and traced the main outlines of the design. This will help me align the pattern exactly the same way when I cut the next two pieces.

3.
Pin the pattern to the fabric and cut it out (I’ve already added a
¼” seam allowance to the pattern for you, so cut around the outer
edge.) If it helps you to label sections of your tracing like I’ve
done here, go right ahead.

4.
Repeat this process to cut three identical triangles from each of
your fat quarters.

Sewing the pillow:

5. Pin one triangle of each fabric together with right sides facing. When you pin, pay close attention to matching up all the elements in the fabric design – here, I’m matching the edges of the stripes.

In fact, you may notice that by matching the designs, you end up with little gaps in the edges of the pinned fabrics, as seen above. Don’t worry! You can gently stretch the fabrics so they’re flat as you sew. Just keep those designs aligned.

6.
Sew each pair of triangles together along one side, creating three
units. Press their seam allowances in the same direction. As you sew,
pay special attention to where you end your seams at the tip of the
triangle. They should end ¼” away from the edge of the fabric, as
shown above. This will make it easier to match all these points at
the center of the pillow.

7.
Now, sew the three triangle units together, making sure the two
fabrics alternate. Do your best to make sure the tips of the
triangles align in the center. If you have a mismatch, like you see
above, you can remove some of the seam and stretch the fabric gently
as you re-sew to get a closer alignment. But
that said, getting six points of fabric to line up perfectly is
tricky! So please don’t make yourself too crazy over this. We’ll
be covering the center of the pillow with a button, so perfection is
not a requirement here!

8.
When you’re done assembling the pillow front, check the back of
your work to make sure all the seam allowances are laying in the same
direction. That will allow you to neatly press the center flat as you
see here. Go ahead and reorient and press any seam allowances.

9.
Cut your backing fabric to match your finished pillow front. Pin them
together with right sides facing and sew around all six sides,
leaving about a 4” gap in one side for stuffing. Trim away the
fabric at each corner and press the seam allowance open. Fold and
press the edges of the fabric at the opening so they match the seam
line.

10.
Turn the pillow right side out, poking all the corners out so they’re
nice and sharp. Press the pillow flat before you stuff it.

11.
Stuff the pillow firmly and then sew the opening closed with a ladder stitch.

Tufting the Pillow:

12. Follow the instructions in your covered button kit to make a 1” covered button from a leftover scrap of pillow fabric. Thread a hand-sewing needle with about 20” of upholstery thread, which is strong enough to withstand the pulling we’re about to do. Regular sewing thread isn’t a good choice for this step.

Pass the needle straight down through the center of the pillow, bringing it out at the back. You can compress the pillow so the needle reaches through.Take a little stitch on the back, and then bring the needle back out through the front of the pillow.

13. Thread your covered button on now, and then remove your needle. Tie the two ends of the thread into an overhand knot.

Pull the threads to tighten this knot, which will also compress the pillow center a bit.
When you have the center compressed as much as you like, tie a second knot to lock the thread in place. It’s very helpful to have a friend hold the button down as you tie this second knot. Cut the ends of the thread short enough that they can hide under the button.

About Our Guest Blogger

Diane Gilleland blogs, podcasts, publishes, teaches, and makes videos about all things crafty over at CraftyPod.com. When she’s not doing those things, she’s doing whatever her cat tells her to do. And what’s wrong with that?

This week, Spoonflower designer Heather Dutton of Hang Tight Studio shares an easy but impactful magnet board makeover using Spoonflower decals. Read on for the details of Heather's project, including some extra ideas for using up leftover decal bits at the end of the post!

When
the New Year rolls around, I love tidying up my studio and starting
the year off with a fresh space. One thing I desperately needed this year was a
special place to hold my to-do lists and reminders since my
bulletin boards are jam-packed with new designs I’m working on and inspiration images.

I bought a boring
office supply magnet board over the holidays but it looked like
something that belonged in a boardroom instead of an art studio.

So I
decided to give it a little help thanks to Spoonflower’s fab wall
decals! The whole makeover was easy-peasy! The hardest part of the
process was deciding which design to use. Seriously! 
There are so many fun patterns to choose from but I kept coming back
to "Old Technology" by Michelle Luu (aka, Theboutiquestudio on Spoonflower). I love
the retro vibe of her design and the vintage phones, cameras and typewriters seemed like a perfect fit for a message center.

I started off by
measuring the length and width of the inside of the board (the
magnetic bit) so I’d know what size to cut the decal.

The decals come
with a pre-cut easy peel edge that’s inset a little bit from the
outside edge of the paper. This is a great feature but I needed a raw
edge to start my measurements from so I trimmed my decal down just
inside the pre-cut edge on two sides.

I flipped the
decal over (to the paper side) and, using a T-square on my new raw
edge, I measured out the height and width of my board on the back
with a pencil. Using a sharp X-Acto blade, I cut the decal to fit my
dimensions.

I decided that I
wanted to put a small band of my own "Off The Grid" design at the bottom of my board
so I cut the main decal a little shorter than the board, measured the
extra space for my second decal, and cut that piece to fit as well. Once my pieces were cut, I peeled off the backing and stuck them to the inside of the board. Crazy easy!

I had a couple of decal scraps left over and I couldn’t bear to throw them away so I decided why not go crazy and make a handy pen and paper holder and some coordinating magnet clips? You could use just about anything for a pen/paper holder as long as you can glue a couple of magnets to the back of it. I cut one of the “Old Technology” decal scraps to fit this fun metal tin I had laying around, slapped it on, glued a few magnets to the back and bam! Instant coordinating pen and paper holder! Nobody’s going to see the back of the tin so I didn’t worry about making it look pretty.

I’m a bit of a sucker for clothespins so it was a no-brainer to turn a few into coordinating magnet clips! I just traced the shape of the clothespin onto the back of my decal scrap and cut them to fit. I did the same thing for the magnet strip (which is super-easy to cut). The magnet strips are self-adhesive but I used a little glue just to make sure they stayed on. Ta da!!! Your very own coordinating clothespin magnet clips! Wheee!

A big thanks to
Spoonflower & Michelle Luu at Theboutiquestudio for the brilliant
decals and fun project!

We devoted the month of January to sharing projects to inspire us to transform those unloved items in our homes into treasures and to reorganize our spaces beautifully. Anda from the Etsy Europe team shares a final brilliant organizational DIY, fabric hanging shelves.

Note 1: I live in Europe, and all the rulers in my house are in centimeters, so I created this tutorial in metric. For best results, please measure in cm! I tried my best to convert all measurements to inches anyway, in case you don’t have a way to convert on your own.

Note 2: I didn’t have any velcro when I took photos so I faked it with felt. Please use real velcro or your shelves will just fall off the closet rod! 🙂

With right sides together, stitch around hanging strap, leaving an opening large enough for turning. Trim corners. Turn right side out and press. Slip stitch opening closed.

Sew one side of velcro at one end, flip over and sew other side of velcro at opposite end.

Find center of the top outer fabric piece and measure 1cm from center in each direction and mark. Do the same with hanging strap.

Pin down and sew two straight lines to attach hanging strap to top piece of shelves. You probably want to sew over these lines a few times for security.

Create the top of the shelf (the outer 23x32cm piece you just attached the hanging strap to, and one inner 23x32cm piece):

Press under 1.5cm (3/4”) on back edge of top shelf piece and inner shelf piece.

With right sides together, sew a straight stitch across opposite side (the front edge of the shelf).

The longer edges of the top shelf should still be open.

Flip top shelf right side out and press. Center an inner piece along one side of top shelf, so its right side is facing the right side of the bottom of the top shelf. There should be around 1cm fabric extending past the front and back of the shelf. Stitch along this side. Repeat on opposite side with a second inner rectangle.

You should end up with something that looks like this.

Create more shelves (inner fabric 23×32 pieces):

Take two inner fabric pieces and repeat step 2 to make the second shelf. (First press 1.5cm under on back edge of each side, and then with right sides together stitch across front edge.)
Attach this shelf to the side pieces of the first shelf by facing the right side of the top of shelf to the right side of each inner piece above it and straight stitching along this edge.

You’ll always have about 1cm extra fabric extending past the front and back of the shelves, and will need this later when adding the outside.

Attach two more inner side pieces. Make sure you have the front of your shelves all at the front— you’ll be sliding fiber board into the open backs of each shelf at the end.

Repeat steps with next shelf. Repeat steps to make the bottom shelf, only this time use your second outer fabric 23x32cm piece for the bottom of the last shelf. Press everything. You’ll have something like this (seen from the bottom).

Add the outer sides:

Flatten out your shelves.

Face and pin the right side of one long 32×69 rectangle to the top & edges of the right side of one inner part. Everything else will be in the middle.

Straight stitch around this edge—you’ll have a sort of lumpy sandwich. Be careful not to catch the finished shelving fronts and backs as you sew this part.

Straight stitch around sides and top, leaving the bottom open. Turn right side out and repeat with second outer piece. Turn right side out again, and start to get excited because it looks almost finished and it’s kind of magical.

Slip stitch the bottom of each outer piece to the bottom shelf piece. Press!

Finish:

Slide your fiber board into the backs of your shelves and slip stitch the backs of shelves closed. Holy moley, you made some hanging shelves! In the photo I have the hanging strap wrapped around a coat hanger, but the strap will work best when wrapped around a bar in your closet. Be sure to use strong Velcro if you plan on hanging lots of heavy stuff. Now fill it with sweaters and underthings or whatever you like! You’re done!

About Our Guest Blogger

Anda Corrie is an American illustrator, Etsy designer, and émigré living in Berlin, Germany with her small family. In her spare time she obsesses over vintage children’s books, makes homemade schnapps, sews tiny dresses that her 4-year-old stubbornly refuses to wear, and draws. Visit her Spoonflower shop for some lovely hand drawn fabric designs and her Etsy shop, Boosterseat.

This week in our January refreshing & reorganizing DIY series we're sharing custom label tutorials for beautiful organization. Allie showed us how she designed fabric labels to wrangle her fabric stash and Caroline shared a decal label tutorial to make finding your pantry or workspace goods a snap. Today, Laurie shares her Mason jar decal labels for a colorful way to order your crafting and sewing supplies.

There is nothing I find more satisfying than good old-fashioned organization. It’s like a crisp breeze of fresh air that opens up new perspectives. Really, a good organization project does this to me! And if I take things one step further and combine organization with clean design, crafty goodness, and beautiful color, I'm in heaven! Here's a simple tutorial to organize all of your lovely making materials into an artful display.

I designed my labels for craft and sewing supplies plus a few bonus labels to organize or decorate other jar lids. You can find the decal label kit in my Spoonflower shop.

Supplies:

An assortment of Mason jars, quart-sized or larger with lids and bands. (I used the regular mouth jars, not the wide-mouth kind.)

First, using a cutting board or mat, straight edge and an X-Acto blade (or sharp scissors), carefully cut along the blue dotted line between each decal.

Once you’ve separated each decal, carefully cut around each individual circle using your scissors.

Remove the backing of each decal one at a time, and place each sticky side down onto a Mason jar lid, pressing the center of the decal into position. If you misalign your decal, just reposition and repeat.

Once the decal is centered, press from the center out towards the lid edges with your thumb to smooth out any bumps.

I opted to leave the silver finish as-is on my lid bands but if you want to spray paint your lid bands, you can do this now. Outside, paint the screw-on bands (but not the lid that the decal is attached to) then allow the bands to dry completely.

Fill the jars with the corresponding crafty goodness, top with a decaled lid, then attach the bands! Go on, I’ll wait.

Use the extra decals for anything you'd like! Arrange them on your wall, write on them with a Sharpie for your own custom label, or stick them on your laptop.

About Our Guest Blogger

In addition to being a fabric-obsessed Spoonflower employee by night, Laurie Shipley is a freelance graphic designer, surface pattern designer and illustrator, a mom, writer, crafter and cook. Her work is not limited to a medium or genre, although her current focus is a meticulous juxtaposition of simplistic and intricate pattern illustration for textiles, wallpapers and package design. She dwells in Durham, NC in a continuous creative environment with her son and two cats. Follow her on Twitter and check out her work.